They are our friends, our role models and rivals. They define who we are, perhaps more than our parents. We grow up together. They get inside our heads.

What happens when we can’t get them out …?

Rachel runs away with her daughter, arriving unexpectedly at her childhood home. Jade spends more nights in the college art studio than she does in her own bedroom. The sudden reappearance of Josh’s mother forces him to take a hard look at his life. Now, all three of them must confront the truth about their childhood, as its impact on their adult lives is revealed.

Told with honesty – and humour – Broken Branches reveals secrets, lies, family dynamics … and the resilience to survive. Produced by CreateTruth Productions in Association with Workman Arts, the award-winning multi-disciplinary arts and mental health organization, Broken Branches starts a long-overdue conversation, shedding light on an important yet silent issue: sibling abuse.

By making the invisible visible, their stories will forever change the way we see sibling relationships.

11, 12, 17, 18, 20 OCTOBER 2019

11, 12, 15, 17, 20 OCTOBER 2019

LAUGHTER VS. THE UNIVERSE

LAUGHTER VS. THE UNIVERSE

ACCESSIBILITY

Comedy Bar is a basement venue with a staircase to the entrance.
Washrooms are located on the main floor of the venue.
Performers use microphones & ASL interpretation will be provided.
Strobe lighting may be used.

For our closing night event, Comedy Bar and Rendezvous With Madness are thrilled to team up for a one night only special comedy showcase designed to remind us that sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

Join us for a very special celebration of some of Canada’s very finest stand ups! Featuring a star studded line up including guest appearances from Christophe Davidson, Tamara Shevon and a special headline performance by Chanty Marostica.

Headliner Bio

Chanty Marostica, known for their unique brand of high energy physical comedy, brings their jokes to life through a combination of storytelling, impressions, and spot on timing.

Chanty has been featured in Just For Laughs, JFL42, ODDBLOCK, Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud, The Halifax Comedy Festival, The Winnipeg Comedy Festival, CBC’s Laugh Out Loud, Debaters, Workin’ Moms and Season 3 of Netflix’s Designated Survivor.

Chanty is an Award Winning Comic, who was nominated for Best Stand Up Comic at the 2015 Winnipeg Comedy Festival, won Patrons Pick in both 2015/2016, won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Breakout Artist 2018 as well as Best Stand Up Comic 2019. Chanty was also named Sirius XM’s Top Comic in 2018 for their debut album, The Chanty Show, which went to #1 on iTunes. They won Comedy Album of the Year Album of the Year at the 2019 Canadian Comedy Awards and was nominated for a Comedy Album of the Year at the 2019 Juno Awards.

Intangible Adorations is an immersive theatrical experience that explores the impact of celebrity worship on the mental health of the famous, and on those who become infatuated with celebrity. Audience members will gather in the Hall of Celebrity, have the opportunity to learn the best way to approach someone famous, and then experience an iconic piece of performance art in the Red Chapel enacted by a celebrity whose identity is concealed by a morph suit. Will they reveal their identity, or will they choose to remain anonymous? That will be up to the individual who represents the ICON each night. Who in the audience will have the courage to participate in a celebrity panel where they’ll get a taste of what it feels like to be famous?

#GETMAD: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Celebrity and Anonymity: An Artist Talk and Q&A

A discussion of Intangible Adorations with creator and performer Lisa Anita Wegner and collaborator Scott White on Saturday, October 19 after the 2:00 pm show, moderated by Lisa McKeown. The discussion will touch on the nature of modern celebrity culture, celebrity worship syndrome and the origins of this version of Intangible Adorations. The panel will also discuss the significance of Lisa’s journey with mental and physical health, the relevance of finding anonymous expression, and how this piece fits into Lisa’s larger universe of therapeutic performance and film work.

Charlie is looking for happy, Remi is a struggling musician and bartender who has clinical depression, Jinx is a burlesque performer and PHD candidate who works at The Orange Balloon, and Minka, no one knows what Minka does. In This House is a play about four young adults living together in Toronto. It is a look into the epidemic of loneliness and depression among the Millennial generation and the daily struggle to make something of yourself in this city. In This House is a play about a generation, a city and an exact time in our lives. This is a play about how we save each other.

#GETMAD: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Millennial Mental Health: a two-part conversation

How are young people today talking about suicide? How are Millennials navigating their experiences with mental health and addictions? Join the cast of In this House after the shows on October 12 and October 15 as they discuss the production themes and their experiences navigating between being emerging artists, living on their own for the first time and managing their mental health. This two-part conversation will explore the unique difficulties for young people in Canada, and the communities of support being created as a response.

PSYCHOSIS is inspired by the investigation of Ronald’s mental health episode in Canada and pulls into the present to explore an awareness of adversity, reconciliation and resilience. By connecting relationships between disability, environment and the human spirit, PSYCHOSIS seeks to explore the trauma and ongoing challenges of mental health, while dealing with bouts of darkness, depression and the human psyche.

#GETMAD: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

PSYCHOSIS Process

After the show on October 12, join the cast members to discuss the intricacies of creating and performing Ronald Taylor’s PSYCHOSIS. Through an inter-sectional lens, performers and audience members will have the chance to further reflect together on the performance and the insight that it provides.

ACCESSIBILITY

This is an interactive/moving performance. Once in the venue, audience members with accessibility needs and limited mobility will have the opportunity to sit. We encourage those with mobility issues to contact us in advance to organize access to the venue and ensure they have seating for the performance.

In 1964, at the age of 28, a queer dancer named Fred Herko jetéd out the window of his ex-lover’s apartment – naked, and high on speed. The Life and Death of Fred Herko is an interdisciplinary, site-specific performance that sheds light on a footnoted figure in queer history and examines the collateral damage of art.

Through striking sound design, movement and text the piece reimagines the dancer’s infamous last moments and seeks to find utopian potential in his tragic story.

The research and development of this piece has been generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Workman Arts would like to acknowledge the Indigenous land on which we are presently
located; Toronto comes from the Kanien’kéha word Tkaronto, which can be translated as “where the trees meet
the water.” It is part of traditional territories of many nations: the Huron Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and
the Anishinaabe and the Mississaugas of the New Credit.

Workman Arts recognizes this is an ongoing dialogue; we attempt to honour the histories
of this land by sharing our space with all people—those Indigenous to Turtle Island and those from all over
the world.